T  * 


Hand -list  of  Fransd  Re  pro  duct'* 
of  Pictures  nnd  Portraits 
Belo   '    to  t" 

Compiled  by 
T.V,.  KOCH 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


HAND-LIST 


OF 


BELONGING   TO   THE 


DANTE    COLLECTION 


COMPILED   BY 

THEODORE  WESLEY   KOCH 


ITHACA,  NEW  YORK 
1900 


CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


HAND-LIST 


OF 


FRAMED    REPRODUCTIONS    OF  PICTURES 
AND  PORTRAITS 


BELONGING  TO  THE 


DANTE    COLLECTION 


COMPILED  BY 

THEODORE  WESLEY  KOCH 


ITHACA,  NEW  YORK 
1900 


•pa 
•s} 


PREFACE. 


DANTE'S  preeminent  position  in  the  world  of  letters  is  well  attested 
by  the  more  than  six  thousand  volumes  in  the  Fiske  Dante  Col- 
lection. The  aim  of  the  small  selection  of  reproductions  of  pictures  which 
has  been  framed  and  hung  on  the  walls  surrounding  the  books,  is  not  to 
give  anything  like  an  adequate  idea  of  Dante's  hold  on  the  imagination 
of  the  artists.  Gathered  together  in  a  series  of  portfolios  on  our  Dante 
shelves  and  between  the  covers  of  numerous  illustrated  editions  and  works 
on  Dante,  is  a  wealth  of  material  admirably  setting  forth  this  influence  of 
Dante  on  art.  With  a  very  limited  space  at  my  command,  I  have  chosen 
for  framing  such  pictures  mainly  as  appeal  to  the  feeling  for  the  poetical 
in  art,  excluding  those  representations  of  the  sufferings  in  the  Inferno 
which,  as  Hazlitt  said  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds'  "  Ugolino,"  ought  never  to 
have  been  painted.  I  have  tried  to  emphasize  by  the  subjects  here  pre- 
sented the  fact  that  Dante  is  the  poet  of  the  higher  nature  of  man,  and 
not  the  mere  recorder  of  the  grotesque  and  horrible,  which  the  popular 
^  mind,  misled  by  incompetent  critics  and  by  such  illustrations  as  those  of 
V  Dore",  conceives  him  to  be. 

It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that  a  large  number  of  the  reproductions  are 

N>    from  Rossetti,  who  was  himself  a  "  poet  on  canvas,"  and  was  led  alike  by 

V    birth  and  by  sympathy  of  genius  to  give  much  of  his  life  to  the  illustration 

of  Dante.*    With  some  painters  there  is  always  present  the  desire  to  paint 

*  "  The  position  which  Rossetti  will  ultimately  hold  with  posterity  must  greatly 
depend  upon  the  verdict  passed  on  the  series  of  pictures  inspired  by  Dante.  The 
painter  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  was  possessed  by  the  spirit  of  the  poet. 
In  1852  we  have  the  comparatively  early  water-color, '  Giotto  Painting  the  Portrait  of 
Dante;'  and  one  year  later  a  drawing,  seldom  surpassed  in  technique,  composition, 
or  simplicity  of  narrative, '  Dante  on  the  Anniversary  of  the  Death  of  Beatrice.'  In 
1859  what  may  be  termed  romantic  medievalism  triumphs  in  the  diptych,  '  Salutatio 
Beatricis.'  In  1863  symbolism  obtains  sway  in  the  death  of  'Beata  Beatrix : '  death 
has  fallen  on  the  sensitive  form  of  youth  and  beauty  as  a  sleep  or  trance :  the  picto- 
rial dream  is  akin  to  the  visions  of  Blake,  or  to  so-called  '  spirit-drawings.'  Seven 
years  after  the  ruling  passion  culminates  in  '  Dante's  Dream.'  Lastly,  in  1880,  came 
'The  Salutation  of  Beatrice/  a  picture  left  unfinished,  and  marked  by  waning 
powers."  —  [J.  B.  ATKINSON]  in  Blackwood's  Magazine,  March,  1883,  p.  399. 


Vi  PREFACE. 

the  actual  and  historical ;  but  with  Rossetti  the  constant  aim  was  to  portray 
the  poetical  and  ideal.  Rossetti  possessed,  says  Sidney  Colvin,  "  the  same 
cast  and  tendency  of  imagination  as  inspired  the  poet  of  the  Vita  Nuova 
to  embody  all  the  passions  and  experiences  of  the  human  heart  in  forms 
of  many-colored  personification  and  symbol."*  It  is  impossible  to  explain 
fully  the  symbolism  of  these  pictures  when  we  have  before  us  nothing 
but  photographs,  —  colorless  translations,  —  for  color  had  significance  in 
Rossetti's  work. 

Whatever  explanation  I  have  given  of  the  paintings  by  Rossetti,  and 
the  other  artists  represented,  is,  for  good  and  evident  reasons,  taken  chiefly 

The  chronology  of  Rossetti's  career  as  a  painter  is  surrounded  by  considerable 
uncertainty.  Lists  of  his  works,  with  dates  often  tentative,  are  appended  to  the 
accounts  of  him  written  by  Joseph  Knight,  William  Sharp,  and  W.  M.  Rossetti.  Of 
379  drawings  and  paintings  tabulated  by  his  brother,  43  were  inspired  by  Dante,  and 
of  these  a  larger  number  pertain  to  the  Vita  Nuova  than  to  the  Divina  Commedia. 
Ruskin  pronounced  these  Dante  pictures  to  be  "  of  quite  imperishable  power  and 
value"  (Nineteenth  Century,  Dec.,  1878,  p.  1079).  Though  they  have  a  greater  value 
to  the  student  of  Rossetti's  genius  than  to  the  student  of  Dante,  yet  a  beginning 
interest  in  the  latter  has  often  been  fostered  by  such  aids  as  these.  Of  course,  to 
those  who  know  their  Dante  well,  attempts  at  pictorial  illustration  will,  from  the  very 
nature  of  imaginative  work,  often  prove  unsatisfactory. 

A  word  in  regard  to  Rossetti's  position  on  the  vexed  matter  of  the  allegorical 
interpretation  of  Dante  may  not  be  out  of  place.  His  brother,  W.  M.  Rossetti, 
having  occasion  in  the  Art  Journal  for  1884,  p.  205,  to  speak  of  his  father's  conten- 
tion for  the  allegorical  and  enigmatical  purport  of  Dante's  writings,  goes  on  to  say 
that  "  any  conception  or  interpretation  of  that  sort  was  totally  alien  from  the  train 
of  thought  and  feeling  of  Dante  Rossetti,  who  would  not  in  such  matters  at  all  take 
his  cue  from  Gabriele  Rossetti.  He  [D.  G.  R.]  has  been  frequently  termed  a  mystic ; 
but  he  was  almost  the  last  man  to  be  a  mystic  in  the  sense  of  disregarding  or  setting 
at  naught  the  plain  and  obvious  meaning  of  his  author,  and  transmuting  it  out  of 
human  passion,  emotion,  and  incident  into  mere  abstract  speculation  or  doctrinal 
framework.  Into  his  idea  of  Beatrice  he  would  condense  as  much  spiritual  as 
womanly  motive  force ;  but  it  would  have  been  contrary  to  his  very  nature  to  con- 
template her  as  any  other  than  a  woman  once  really  living  in  Florence,  and  there 
really  loved  by  Dante  as  woman  is  loved  by  man.  The  like  with  the  Lady  of  Pity, 
Fiammetta,  and  any  other  such  personages.  I  do  not  here  debate  whether  in  this  he 
was  right  or  wrong ;  I  only  say  that  such  was  his  invariable  attitude  of  mind  from 
earliest  youth  till  his  closing  day,  and  that  anything  in  his  treatment  of  Allighieri,  or 
of  the  dramatis  persona  of  Allighieri  and  other  leaders  of  the  Italian  mediaeval  mind, 
should  always  be  understood  as  abstract  to  this  extent  only,  and  not  to  any  extent 
involving  some  other  and  conflicting  range  of  thought.  In  fact,  he  hated  any  glosses 
of  a  rationalizing  tendency,  and  was  as  much  indisposed  to  shuffle  concrete  things 
into  allegory  as  he  was  prone  to  invest  with  symbolic  detail  or  suggestion  things 
which  are  in  themselves  simply  physical  and  substantial." 

*  Magazine  of  Art,  1883,  vol.  vi,  p.  178. 


PREFACE.  vii 

from  their  recognized  expounders,  and  from  Dante's  own  account  of  the 
incidents  portrayed.  The  extracts  from  the  Vita  Nuova  are  (with  one 
exception)  from  Rossetti's  translation.  In  the  foot-notes,  references  will 
be  found  only  to  the  more  generally  available  reproductions  in  books  and 
periodicals ;  for  others,  see  the  Appendix  on  Iconography  in  the  Catalogue 
of  the  Dante  Collection. 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Frederick  Hollyer  and  to  W.  A.  Mansell  &  Co. 
for  their  courtesy  in  answering  very  fully  numerous  questions  concerning 
the  photographs  of  which  they  hold  the  copyright.  Mrs.  W.  J.  Stillman, 
Mr.  Charles  L.  Hutchinson,  and  Mr.  Henry  T.  Wells  very  kindly  furnished 
me  with  reproductions  of  pictures  in  their  possession.  Grateful  acknowl- 
edgment is  also  made  of  help  from  Prof.  C.  E.  Norton,  Mr.  W.  M.  Ros- 
setti,  Mr.  G.  F.  Watts,  Mr.  C.  Fairfax  Murray,  Mr.  F.  G.  Stephens,  and 
Mr.  Homer  J.  Edmiston. 

T.  W.  KOCH. 

CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY, 
March,  1900. 


HAND-LIST 


OF 


FRAMED    DANTE    PICTURES. 


PORTRAITS   OF  DANTE.* 

I  —  Bargello  Fresco.  —  Portrait  of  Dante,  commonly  ascribed  to 
Giotto.  Chromo-lithograph,  published  by  the  Arundel  Society,  1859, 
from  a  sketch  made  by  Seymour  Kirkup  previous  to  the  restoration. 

Vasari,  in  his  life  of  Giotto,  writes  as  follows:  "Among  the  portraits  of  this 
artist  which  still  remain,  is  one  of  his  contemporary  and  intimate  friend,  Dante 
Alighieri,  who  was  no  less  famous  as  a  poet  than  Giotto  as  a  painter.  .  .  .  This  por- 
trait is  in  the  chapel  of  the  Podesta  in  Florence ;  and  in  the  same  chapel  are  the 
portraits  of  Ser  Brunetto  Latini,  master  of  Dante,  and  Corso  Donati,  an  illus- 
trious citizen  of  that  day."  t  Still  earlier  references  to  this  portrait  are  found  in  the 
writings  of  Filippo  Villani  and  Giannozzo  Manetti.  The  portrait  occurs  in  a  Gloria 
or  Paradise  where,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  time,  learned  and  renowned  men 
are  grouped  at  the  foot  of  a  painting  in  which  saints  and  cherubim  pay  homage  to 
God.  With  the  decay  of  interest  in  art  and  letters  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the 
building  containing  this  precious  fresco  was  converted  into  a  prison,  called  the 
Bargello,  and  its  wall-paintings  were  covered  with  a  coating  of  lime.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century  a  number  of  endeavors  were  made  to  uncover  this  fresco,  but 
not  until  the  affair  was  taken  hold  of  by  R.  H.  Wilde,  G.  A.  Bezzi,  and  Seymour 
Kirkup,  did  they  meet  with  success.  The  portion  of  the  fresco  containing  the  por- 
trait of  Dante  was  uncovered  July  21,  1840,  —  not  1841  as  it  is  stated  on  the  above 
plate.  It  is  said  that  in  the  haste  and  excitement  incident  to  the  work,  a  nail  which 
had  been  driven  into  the  wall  was  pulled  out  (instead  of  being  cut  off),  and  it  took 
with  it  a  piece  of  the  plaster  and  the  eye  of  the  very  portrait  which  was  the  occasion 
of  all  the  search.  In  restoring  the  portrait,  Antonio  Marini,  who  had  charge  of  the 
work,  painted  too  small  an  eye,  and  altered  the  whole  expression  of  the  face  by 

*  With  the  exception  of  Nos.  15,  16,  17,  the  portraits  entered  in  this  list  are  reproduced  in  Kraus, 
"Dante,  sein  Leben  und  sein  Werk,"  1897,  pp.  161-202. 

t  In  consequence  of  this  statement  the  two  figures  at  Dante's  side  (see  No.  2)  are  popularly  identi- 
fied with  Brunetto  Latini  and  Corso  Donati,  but  Vasari  does  not  say  that  the  three  were  grouped 
together. 


2  HAND-LIST  OF  FRAMED  DANTE  PICTURES. 

slight  changes  in  the  contour  and  very  decided  changes  in  the  color  and  in  the 
treatment  of  the  head-dress  and  gown. 

There  has  been  much  dispute  concerning  both  the  date  and  the  painter  of  this 
fresco.  From  its  containing  Dante's  portrait  we  must  conclude  that  it  was  painted 
either  before  his  exile  in  1302  or  after  his  death  in  1321,  for  no  artist  would  have 
dared  to  thus  honor  him  during  the  intervening  years  when  he  was  under  the  ban 
of  the  party  in  power.  Another  important  factor  in  fixing  the  date  of  the  painting 
is  the  identification  of  one  person  in  the  fresco  who  by  his  dress  shows  himself  to 
be  a  French  prince.  If  the  latter  is  taken  to  be  Charles  of  Valois,  then  the  fresco 
must  be  regarded  as  commemorating  the  latter's  stay  in  Florence  in  1301-02.  Such 
is  the  opinion  most  widely  current,  maintained  notably  by  Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle. 
But  the  reception  with  which  Charles  met  in  Florence  was  hardly  such  as  to  be 
commemorated  on  the  walls  of  her  public  buildings.  J.  R.  Sibbald  in  his  account 
of  the  portrait,  prefaced  to  his  translation  of  the  Inferno,  argues  for  the  date  1326 
and  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  Charles  Duke  of  Calabria,  the  eldest  son  of  King 
Robert  of  Naples,  and  great-grandson  of  Charles  of  Anjou,  as  that  celebrated  in  the 
picture. 

G.  Milanesi  and  L.  Passerini,  when  requested  by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion in  1864,  to  report  upon  the  authenticity  of  the  existing  portraits  of  Dante,  ex- 
pressed themselves  of  the  opinion  that  the  Bargello  fresco  could  not  have  been 
painted  by  Giotto.  They  fixed  upon  Taddeo  Gaddi,  the  godson  and  favorite  pupil 
of  Giotto,  as  the  probable  artist.  This  ascription  was  based  on  the  similarity  exist- 
ing between  the  whole  composition  of  the  Bargello  fresco  and  that  in  the  Rinuccini 
chapel  in  Santa  Croce,  at  that  time  thought  to  be  by  Gaddi.  The  latter  work  is  to- 
day, however,  ascribed  to  Gaddi's  pupil,  Giovanni  da  Milano,  and  consequently,  if 
we  accept  the  arguments  of  Milanesi  and  Passerini,  the  ascription  of  the  Bargello 
fresco  to  Taddeo  Gaddi  must  be  given  up  or  shifted,  with  that  of  the  Rinuccini 
chapel  frescoes,  to  Giovanni  da  Milano.  In  a  second  report,  Milanesi  and  Passerini 
aimed  to  show  that  Giotto  painted  his  own  portrait  and  that  of  his  friend  Dante  on 
a  wooden  tablet,  which  for  a  number  of  years  stood  on  the  altar  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Podesta,  and  that  from  this  tablet  the  portrait  of  Dante  may  have  been  copied  on 
the  wall.  They  would  put  the  date  of  the  fresco  as  late  as  1337. 

"  That  the  portrait  of  Dante,  whether  painted  by  Giotto  or  by  one  of  his  pupils, 
was  derived  from  a  sketch  by  the  great  master  seems  altogether  probable.  It  is  the 
most  interesting  portrait  that  has  come  to  us  from  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  dignity, 
refinement,  sweetness,  and  strength  of  its  traits  it  is  a  worthy  likeness  of  the  poet  of 
the  New  Life."  —  C.  E.  NORTON,  in  the  Century,  April,  1884,  vol.  xxvii,  p.  956. 

2  —  Same;  restored. —  Photographic  enlargement  by  F.  Hollyer. 

3  —  Same  ;  restored.  —  Water-color  copy  by  Carlo  Facchinetti. 

4 —  Naples  Bust.  —  Photograph  by  Sommer,  of  Naples,  from  the 
original  bronze  in  the  Museum  of  Naples. 

A  comparison  of  this  face  with  the  bust  and  mask  mentioned  below  (Nos.  7,  8), 
shows  at  a  glance  that  the  two  must  have  had  a  common  origin. 

5  —  Same.  —  Photograph  by  F.  Hollyer  of  a  copy  of  the  Naples 
bust  Taken  from  the  cast  in  the  Kensington  Museum. 


PORTRAITS  OF  DANTE.  2 

A  full-size  copy  of  the  bust,  in  bronzed  plaster,  is  found  in  the  Cornell  Univer- 
sity Library  over  the  middle  entrance  to  the  west  stack.  A  much  reduced  copy  is 
in  the  locked-press  on  the  third  floor  of  the  stack.  The  head  of  Dante  (A)  in 
the  south  bay  on  this  same  floor  is  but  a  section  of  the  Naples  bust,  from  a  some- 
what worn  mould.  Of  the  other  casts  in  this  same  bay,  the  one  (B)  is  apparently 
nothing  but  a  copy  cut  at  a  different  angle  (the  statement  cut  into  the  plaster  to 
the  contrary) ;  the  other  (C)  is  from  a  modern  bust,  the  face  of  which  is  modelled 
after  that  of  the  Naples  bust. 

6  —  Same.  —  Lithograph  from  crayon  sketch  of  the  head,  by  D.  V. 
Wilcox.     Made  for  the  Art  Students'  League  of  Buffalo. 

7  —  Torrigiani  Bust.  —  Photograph  by  Alinari  of  the  colored  plaster 
bust  in  the  Uffizi  Gallery,  formerly  in  the  Palazzo  del  Nero,  Florence. 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  this  and  the  Naples  bust  (No.  4)  go  back  to  one 
common  source,  but  what  that  original  was,  whether  in  plaster,  marble,  or  bronze, 
and  how  true  a  representation  of  the  features  of  Dante,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 

8  —  Mask   of  Dante.  —  Photograph,  giving  full-face  and  profile 
view,  of  a  plaster  cast  from  the  preceding,  formerly  in  the  possession  of 
Seymour  Kirkup. 

"  The  greatest  surprise  is  to  be  expressed  on  seeing  how  the  majority  of  those 
[who  have  written  on  the  portraits  of  Dante]  have  believed  and  still  seriously  believe 
that  the  so-called  '  mask  '  was  made  directly  from  the  body  of  Dante,  on  his  death- 
bed, that  is,  at  Ravenna  in  September,  1321 !  Such  an  opinion  represents  artistically 
the  most  amusing  of  anachronisms,  inasmuch  as  no  workman  of  that  time  ever 
thought  of  taking  impressions  from  dead  bodies.*  But  this  is  not  all ;  let  us  examine 
the  plaster  mask  or  one  of  the  reproductions.  The  furrows  of  the  hair  in  the  eye- 
brows and  on  the  temples  are  not  sharp,  stiff,  and  true,  but  the  evident  groove  of 
the  sculptor's  tool ;  there  is  no  closing  of  the  eyelids  nor  indication  of  eye-lashes, 
but  the  eye  is  open  and  full ;  the  jaw  does  not  stand  out  from  under  and  around 
emaciated  lips,  but  the  line  is  free,  elegant,  and  delicate,  as  seen  in  the  work  of  an 
able  modeller. 

"  Then,  too,  how  can  one  suppose  that  in  the  real  death-mask  the  ear-tabs  of 
the  cap  were  also  delineated?  How  can  one  suppose  that  the  artist  spread  the 
plaster  or  clay  over  the  cloth  of  the  cap?  Lastly,  how  can  one  imagine  that  an 
object  so  precious,  nay  sacred,  as  the  imprint  of  the  very  face  of  the  poet,  remained 
unknown  to  all  the  artists  and  to  all  the  historians  flourishing  during  almost  two 
centuries,  and,  although  in  plaster,  was  preserved  for  more  than  five  hundred  years  ? 

"  Yet,  these  things,  so  obvious,  so  simple,  were  not  thought  of  or  not  frankly 
stated  by  the  many  who  have  written  about  the  '  mask ; '  and  the  learned  men  who 
made  the  report  on  the  discovery  of  the  bones  of  Dante  compared  it  with  the  head 
of  the  skeleton  of  the  divine  poet.  Furthermore,  the  well-known  sculptor,  Lorenzo 
Bartolini,  found  in  the  relaxation  of  the  muscles  and  in  the  eyes  unequally  closed '  clear 
indications  of  recent  death ' !  But  we  must  hasten  to  observe  that  not  daring  to 
declare  that  it  was  a  true  mask,  because  indeed  he  saw  the  impossibility  of  it,  he 
added  that  that  cast  might  also  come  '  from  some  old  bust  modelled  from  the  mask 

*  This  assertion  is  disputed. 


4  HAND-LIST  OF  FRAMED  DANTE  PICTURES. 

taken  at  first  hand  from  the  face  of  the  poet,'  and  Cappi  entertained  his  doubt."  — 
Translated  from  C.  Ricci,  L'  ultimo  rifugio  di  Dante,  1891,  pp.  279-280. 

9  —  Domenico  di  Francesco,  called  Michelino.  —  [Dante  and 
his  poem.]     Photograph  by  Alinari  from  the  fresco  in  the  Cathedral  of 
Florence,  commissioned  in  1465  on  the  occasion  of  the  two-hundredth 
anniversary  of  Dante's  birth. 

In  the  centre  of  the  picture  stands  Dante,  holding  a  book,  on  the  open  pages 
of  which  are  inscribed  the  first  six  lines  of  the  Commedia.  To  the  right  is  a  view  of 
Florence ;  to  the  left  is  pictured  hell  and  purgatory,  while  in  the  heavens  above  is 
represented  paradise.  The  Latin  verses  at  the  bottom  are  ascribed  to  Bartolommeo 
Scala. 

10  —  Portrait  from  the  Riccardian  Codex  1040.  —  Photograph 
of  the  portrait  adjudged  the  most  authentic  by  the  governmental  commis- 
sion of  1864,  consisting  of  G.  Milanesi  and  L.  Passerini. 

The  verdict  of  the  Commission  has  not  been  accepted  by  scholars  generally. 
The  portrait  dates  probably  from  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

11  —  Luca   Signorelli.  —  Portrait  of  Dante,  in  the  Chapel  of 
S.  Brizio  in  the  Cathedral  of  Orvieto.    Dates  from  1500-01.    Water- 
color  copy  by  an  Orvieto  artist 

12  —  Raphael     Sanzio.  —  Head    of    Dante.      Photograph    by 
Alinari  of  a  section  of  the  fresco  in  the  Vatican,  entitled  "  Disputa  del 
Sacramento."     Painted  in  1508. 

13  —  Raphael  Sanzio.  —  Head  of  Dante.     Photograph  by  Ali- 
nari of  a  section  of  the  fresco  in  the  Vatican,  entitled  "II  Parnaso." 
Painted  in  1511. 

14 — Raphael  Sanzio.  —  Full-length  figure  of  Dante,  —  a  study 
for  the  preceding.*  Photographic  facsimile  by  the  Autotype  Co.,  London, 
from  the  original  drawing  in  sepia  in  the  Albertina,  Vienna.  Signed 
"  R.  Urbino." 

15  —  Portrait  attributed  to  Raphael  Sanzio.  —  Phototype 
made  for  Berthier's  edition  of  the  Commedia,  vol.  i,  i892-[97].  The 
original  is  an  oil-painting  on  a  panel  measuring  17^5  by  12^  inches. 

Mr.  Morris  Moore,  into  whose  possession  the  portrait  came  in  1857,  believed 
it  to  have  been  copied  by  Raphael  from  the  Bargello  portrait  (Nos.  1-3).  The  face 
in  the  present  portrait,  however,  is  turned  to  the  right,  there  is  a  laurel  crown  above 
the  cap,  and  the  cloak  is  fastened  with  two  peculiarly  shaped  bows,  —  three  points 
of  detail  in  which  it  differs  from  the  Bargello  portrait.  Mr.  Moore  claimed  that  the 
panel  was  painted  for  Raphael's  friend,  Cardinal  Bembo,  and  from  the  latter's  family 

*  For  a  woodcut  of  this  see  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  1859,  torn,  iv,  p.  201. 


PORTRAITS  OF  DANTE.  5 

passed  into  that  of  Gradenigo  of  Venice,  and  thence  into  the  possession  of  the 
Counts  Capodilista  of  Padua. 

16  —  Portrait   by  an  Unknown   Artist.  —  From  a  sixteenth 
century  painting  belonging  to   the  Ravenna  school.      Colored  photo- 
engraving prepared  for  Hoepli's  publication  "Con  Dante  e  per  Dante," 
1898,  where  it  was  reproduced  for  the  first  time. 

17  —  Stefano  Tofanelli.  —  Idealized  portrait  of  Dante,  wearing 
a  wreath.     Engraving  by  Raphael  Morghen,  Florence,   1795,  after  the 
original  painting  which  has  long  since  been  lost 

18  a,  b  —  Dante's  Tomb  at  Ravenna.  —  Views  of  the  interior 
and  exterior.     Photographs  by  Alinari. 

The  interior,  the  work  of  Pietro  Lombardi,  dates  from  1483,  when  Bernardo 
Bembo  caused  the  tomb  to  be  reconstructed.  The  exterior  underwent  alterations  in 
1692  and  1780. 

Since  the  death  of  Dante,  in  1321,  his  remains  had  rested  in  a  stone  sarcophagus, 
which  was  afterwards  utilized  by  Lombardi  when  he  came  to  build  a  tomb  over  it. 
"  He  placed  above  it,"  says  Miss  Phillimore,  "  a  sculptured  effigy  of  Dante,  in  Istrian 
marble,  with  the  poet's  laurel  round  his  head  and  the  '  vair '  tippet  of  a  Doctor  of 
Divinity  upon  his  shoulders,  in  the  act  of  reading  from  an  open  book,  which  rests 
on  a  desk  in  front  of  him.  The  face  being  in  profile,  the  traditional  cast  of  feature 
is  accentuated  by  the  sculptor,  and  it  must  be  freely  owned  that  both  in  attitude  and 
expression  it  is  a  somewhat  stiff  and  cramped  representation  of  the  poet.  The  chin 
is  supported  by  the  left  hand ;  the  right  rests  upon  another  book  laid  open  upon  a 
table,  where  three  volumes  and  an  inkstand  are  also  represented.  Although  more  of 
an  effigy  than  a  sculpture,  the  whole  effect  has  a  certain  merit  and  a  character  of  its 
own.  Pietro  Lombardi,  it  has  been  well  remarked  by  Cicognara,  approached  his 
task  more  from  the  architect's  than  from  the  sculptor's  point  of  view ;  and  the  archi- 
tecture and  decorations  have  a  certain  chaste  elegance  characteristic  of  the  period. 
The  basso-relievo,  or  effigy,*  is  let  into  a  background  of  African  veined  marble,  which 
must  have  belonged  at  one  time  to  some  ancient  monument  at  Ravenna.  This  in  its 
turn  has  an  ornamentation  of  Grecian  marble,  which  forms  the  setting  and  frame. 
The  two  materials  are  blended  in  the  same  way  in  the  architectural  ornamentation  of 
the  lunette  above,  which  takes  the  form  of  a  funeral  wreath,  half  laurel,  half  palm, 
emblematic  of  the  glory  of  the  poet  and  the  suffering  of  the  exile,  and  surrounds  the 
motto,  'Virtuti  et  honori.'  .  .  .  Upon  the  face  of  [the  sarcophagus]  the  sculptured 
imitation  of  a  white  cloth,  drawn  and  fastened  with  nails,  carries  the  epitaph  by 
Bernardo  da  Canatro,  .  .  .  with  the  prefix  of  the  three  capitals,  S.  V.  F.  These 
mysterious  letters  have  been  the  subject  of  much  comment,  and  have  been  variously 
interpreted;  but  it  is  supposed  that  Bernardo  Bembo  [who  put  them  there]  followed 
a  tradition,  much  in  vogue  at  the  time,  that  Dante  wrote  his  own  epitaph,  and  that, 
therefore,  S.  V.  F.  stand  for'Sibi  Vivens  Fecit':  'Made  by  himself  when  alive.'" 
{Dante  at  Ravenna,  1898,  pp.  193-195.) 

*  Of  this  effigy  there  is  in  the  collection  (in  the  north  bay  on  this  same  floor)  a  plaster  cast  by 
P.  P.  Caproni,  of  Boston. 


MODERN   ART   INSPIRED   BY   DANTE. 


ig  —  E.  Hamman.  —  [Dante  at  Ravenna.]  Engraving  by  P.  Allais, 
after  the  original  oil-painting  of  1859. 

Pictures  the  popular  legend  that  the  women  and  children,  seeing  Dante  pass  by, 
drew  back  in  fear,  exclaiming,  "  There  goes  the  man  who  has  been  through  Hell." 
The  scene  of  this  story  is  ordinarily  laid  in  Verona.  For  Boccaccio's  version  of  it, 
see  his  life  of  Dante,  §  viii. 

20 —  D.  G.  Rossetti.  —  Beata  Beatrix.*  Photograph  by  F.  Holl- 
yer  from  the  original  oil-painting  in  the  National  Gallery  of  British  Art 
(Tate  Gallery),  London,  formerly  in  the  possession  of  Lord  Mount- 
Temple. 

The  present  picture  was  begun  in  1863,  some  time  after  the  death  of  the  artist's 
wife,  "with  portraiture  so  faithfully  reminiscent,"  says  W.  M.  Rossetti,  "that  one 
might  almost  say  she  sat  in  spirit  and  to  the  mind's  eye  for  the  face."  It  has  been 
called  "  a  memorial  picture  with  a  romantic  subject."  t 

In  the  Vita  Nuova  Dante  tells  how,  lying  on  a  bed  of  pain,  thoughts  of  Beatrice 
came  into  his  mind ;  and  reflecting  on  the  frailty  of  life,  he  wept  and  said  within  him- 
self :  "  Certainly  it  must  sometime  come  to  pass  that  the  very  gentle  Beatrice  will 
die."  Thereupon  he  became  bewildered,  and,  closing  his  eyes,  he  had  visions  of 
strange  faces.  In  his  wandering  fancy  he  imagined  that  he  was  looking  toward 
heaven  and  heard  a  multitude  of  angels  singing  "  Hosanna  in  the  highest !  "  Then 
Dante's  heart  said  within  him,  "  True  it  is  that  our  lady  lies  dead."  And  so  strong 
was  this  fancy  which  took  hold  of  him  that  he  had  a  vision  of  Beatrice  as  dead, 
though  she  was  still  living.  This  vision  is  the  motif  of  Beata  Beatrix,  which 
embodies  symbolically  the  death  of  Beatrice. 

"  The  picture  is  not  intended  at  all  to  represent  death,"  said  Rossetti,  "  but  to 
render  it  under  the  semblance  of  a  trance,  in  which  Beatrice,  seated  at  a  balcony 
overlooking  the  city,  is  suddenly  rapt  from  earth  to  heaven.  You  will  remember 
ho-,v  Dante  dwells  on  the  desolation  of  the  city  in  connection  with  the  incident  of  her 
death,  and  for  this  reason  I  have  introduced  it  as  my  background,  and  made  the 
figures  of  Dante  and  Love  passing  through  the  street,  and  gazing  ominously  on  one 
another,  conscious  of  the  event ;  while  the  bird, J  a  messenger  of  death,  drops  the 

*  Literally,  the  "  blessed  blessing  one."  A  photogravure  of  the  painting  is  in  Esther  Wood's 
"Dante  Rossetti  and  the  Preraphaelite  movement,"  1894,  opp.  p.  162,  and  an  etching  by  G.  W.  Rhead, 
with  description  by  F.  G.  Stephens,  is  in  the  Portfolio,  March,  1891,  opp.  p.  45. 

t  Atheneeum,  Jan.  20,  1883,  P-  93- 

t  A  feature  of  the  picture  for  which  the  artist  is  wholly  responsible.  For  a  more  faithful  presenta- 
tion of  the  vision  as  described  by  Dante,  see  his  "Dante's  Dream  "  (No.  33). 


MODERN  ART  INSPIRED  BY  DANTE.  7 

poppy  between  the  hands  of  Beatrice.  She,  through  her  shut  lids,  is  conscious  of  a 
new  world,  as  expressed  in  the  last  words  of  the  Vita  Nuova  —  [That  blessed  Bea- 
trice who  now  gazeth  continually  on  his  countenance '  who  is  blessed  throughout 
all  ages.']" 

"  Technically  it  is  as  fine  as  it  is  emotionally,  for  curiously  enough  in  this,  proba- 
bly his  finest  picture,  Rossetti  shows  little  or  none  of  that  wilfulness  which  is  so 
frequently  present  in  his  works.  The  drawing,  if  not  very  markedly  good,  is 
unobtrusive  and  unobjectionable;  the  disposition  of  the  drapery  (always  a  strong 
point  with  this  artist)  is  simplicity  and  dignity  itself,  the  position  full  both  of  grace 
and  suggestion,  and  represented  with  the  utmost  ease ;  while  of  the  coloring  it  is 
impossible  to  speak  in  terms  of  too  high  praise."  —  H.  QUILTER,  in  the  Contemporary 
Review,  Feb.,  1883,  vol.  xliii,  p.  196. 

21  —  Same.  —  Photograph  of  a  replica  in  possession  of  Mr.  Charles 
L.  Hutchinson,  of  Chicago.* 

"  More  than  once  Rossetti  had  been  asked  to  paint  a  replica  of  [Beata  Beatrix], 
but  for  long  he  invariably  refused,  those  intimate  with  him  knowing  that  it  was 
because  of  the  painful  memories  it  recalled,  the  idea  that  when  he  was  painting 
Beatrice  in  her  death-like  trance  he  was  also  painting  again  his  dead  wife  ;  but  some 
nine  years  after  this  date  [1863]  he  voluntarily  offered  to  paint  for  his  friend  Mr. 
Graham  the  long-desired  replica,  the  latter  having  done  Rossetti  a  considerable  ser- 
vice which  he  thought  it  fitting  to  thus  acknowledge  and  repay.t  This  duplicated 
picture  bears  date  1872,  and  differs  from  Lord  Mount-Temple's  in  having  a  predella, 
the  subject  of  which  is  the  meeting  of  Dante  and  Beatrice  in  [the  Earthly]  Paradise, 
with  damsels  playing  lutes  and  citherns,  and  behind  [Dante]  eight  crimson  birds 
hovering  in  soft  winged  flight."  —  WILLIAM  SHARP,  D.  G.  Rossetti,  1882,  p.  186. 

22  —  Same ;  detail.  —  Photograph  of  the  predella  attached  to  the 
foregoing  replica.t 

For  an  entirely  different  treatment  of  the  theme  of  this  predella  see  the  second 
compartment  of  Rossetti's  "  Salutatio  Beatricis  "  (No.  43). 

23  —  D.  G.  Rossetti.  —  Dante  drawing  an  angel  in  memory  of 
Beatrice ;  or,  Dante  on  the  anniversary  of  Beatrice's  death.     Photograph 
published  by  W.  A.  Mansell  &   Co.  from  the  original  water-color,    in 
possession  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  to  which  it  was  presented  by 
Mrs.  Combe,  whose  husband  was  the  original  purchaser.    The  painting, 
which  dates  from  about  1853,  figured  in  the  " Preraphaelite  exhibition" 
of  1857  and  was  also  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1883. 

In  1849  Rossetti  had  made  a  pen-and-ink  sketch  of  the  same  subject,  differently 
treated,  which  he  presented  to  Millais. 

*  Both  the  replica  and  the  original  figured  in  the  loan  exhibition  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1883. 
A  photo-engraving  of  the  replica  forms  the  frontispiece  to  Werner's  Magazine,  Oct.  1897. 

t  "  I  think  Mr.  Sharp  was  under  some  misapprehension.  I  am  pretty  certain  that  Mr.  Graham 
(before  rendering  the  '  considerable  service  '  in  1872)  urged  Rossetti  to  do  this  duplicate.  Rossetti  con- 
sented most  reluctantly,  and  this  picture,  begun  perhaps  in  1870,  hung  over  until  in  '72  Rossetti  deter- 
mined to  get  it  off  his  hands,  and  he  then  finished  it."  —  W.  M.  ROSSBTTI,  March  4th,  1899. 

t  The  Library  is  indebted  to  Mr.  Hutchinson  for  this  and  the  preceding  photograph. 


8  HAND-LIST  OF  FRAMED  DANTE  PICTURES. 

The  incident  portrayed,  as  told  by  Dante  in  the  Vita  Nucrva,  is  as  follows : 
"  On  that  day  which  fulfilled  the  year  since  my  lady  had  been  made  of  the  citizens 
of  eternal  life,  remembering  me  of  her  as  I  sat  alone,  I  betook  myself  to  draw  the 
resemblance  of  an  angel  upon  certain  tablets.  And  while  I  did  thus,  chancing  to  turn 
my  head,  I  perceived  that  some  were  standing  beside  me  to  whom  I  should  have 
given  courteous  welcome,  and  that  they  were  observing  what  I  did ;  also  I  learned 
afterwards  that  they  had  been  there  a  while  before  I  perceived  them.  Perceiving 
whom,  I  arose  for  salutation,  and  said :  '  Another  was  with  me.'  Afterwards,  when 
they  had  left  me,  I  set  myself  again  to  mine  occupation,  to  wit,  to  the  drawing  fig- 
ures of  angels  :  in  doing  which,  I  conceived  to  write  of  this  matter  in  rhyme,  as  for 
her  anniversary,  and  to  address  my  rhymes  unto  those  who  had  just  left  me." 

"  It  is  a  highly  finished  and  finely  painted  drawing,  over  which  a  great  amount 
of  care  and  time  must  have  been  taken :  Dante  himself  kneels  beside  a  window  open- 
ing on  the  Arno,  and  turns  round  at  the  greeting  of  untimely  visitors,  one  of  whom 
leans  forward  eager  with  introductions.  The  room  is  quaintly  ornamented  with  a 
row,  along  the  top,  of  carved  heads  such  as  seraphim  are  represented  with,  and 
behind  the  open  door  a  glimpse  is  caught  of  a  green  woodland  or  garden,  forming  a 
charming  contrast  to  the  view  seen  from  the  window  where  the  blue  Arno  washes 
the  white  walls  of  the  Florentine  palaces.  In  one  hand  Dante  holds  the  drawing  on 
which  he  has  been  interrupted,  and  his  face  has  a  grave  severity  as  he  turns  to 
look  on  those  who  have  entered.  There  were  a  few  photographs  privately  printed 
of  this  drawing,  but  they  were  not  successful,  and  this  early  and  important  work  is 
little  known  even  amongst  the  few  who  are  comparatively  familiar  with  Rossetti's 
work."  *  —  WILLIAM  SHARP,  D.  G.  Rossetti,  1882,  pp.  143-144. 

In  a  letter  concerning  this  picture,  the  artist  refers  to  the  account  by  Sir  Theo- 
dore Martin  in  his  article  on  "  Dante  and  Beatrice  "  in  Taifs  Magazine,  1845,  an(^ 
continues  thus :  "  Rather  oddly,  the  subject  of  my  drawing  ...  is  there  suggested 
for  painting.  For  my  own  part  I  had  long  been  familiar  with  the  book  [the  Vita 
Nriffvd},  and  been  in  the  habit  of  designing  all  its  subjects  in  different  ways,  before 
I  met  with  that  article.  ...  I  had  an  idea  of  an  intention,  of  the  possibility  of  a  sug- 
gestion [the  reader  will  observe  the  whimsical  and  clearly  intentional  vagueness  of 
this  phrase]  that  the  lady  in  my  drawing  [«.  e.,  one  of  the  personages  looking  on  while 
Dante  is  absorbed  in  designing  the  angel]  should  be  Gemma  Donati,  whom  Dante 
married  afterwards ;  and  for  that  reason  meant  to  have  put  the  Donati  arms  on  the 
dresses  of  the  three  visitors,  but  could  not  find  a  suitable  way  of  doing  so.  The 
visitors  are  unnamed  in  the  text,  but  I  had  an  idea  also  of  connecting  the  pitying 
lady  with  another  part  of  the  Vita  Nucwa.\  And  in  fact  the  sketch  is  full  of  notions 
of  my  own  in  this  way,  which  would  only  be  cared  about  by  one  to  whom  Dante  was 
a  chief  study."  (From  W.  M.  Rossetti's  D.  G.  Rossetti  as  designer  and  writer,  p.  21.) 

24  —  D.  G.  Rossetti.  —  La  Pia.  Photograph  from  the  oil-painting 
formerly  owned  by  Mr.  F.  R.  Leyland,  and  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy in  1883.  The  original  was  "begun  perhaps  as  far  back  as  1868, 
and  only  finished  towards  1880  "  (W.  M.  Rossetti). t 

*  A  very  clear  reproduction,  Walter  L.  Cjolls,  ph.  so,  is  given  in  Stephens's  Portfolio  monograph 
on  Rossetti,  opp.  p.  34. 

t  Namely,  the  episode  of  "La  Donna  della  Finestra." 

t  Photogravure  in  W.  M.  Rossetti's  "  Ruskin,  Rossetti,  Preraphaelitism,"  1899,  opp.  p.  30.  A  very 
satisfactory  carbon  photograph  is  published  by  the  Autotype  Co.,  London. 


MODERN  ART  INSPIRED  BY  DANTE.  9 

Pia  de'  Tolomei,  whose  spirit  Dante  meets  in  Purgatory  among  those  who  had 
put  off  repentance  until  overtaken  by  a  violent  death,  was  a  lady  of  Siena,  who  had 
married  Nello  della  Pietra.  Nello,  either  because  his  wife  had  committed  some  fault, 
or  because  he  suspected  her  of  infidelity,  or,  perhaps,  because  he  wanted  to  get  rid 
of  her  so  that  he  might  marry  the  beautiful  Margherita  de'  Conti  Aldobrandeschi, 
the  widow  of  Guy  de  Montfort,  conducted  Pia  to  his  castle  in  the  pestilential  sea- 
coast  district  known  as  the  Maremma,  and  in  some  way  brought  about  her  death. 
Commentators  and  historians  differ  in  their  accounts  both  as  to  the  reasons  for  and 
the  method  of  the  husband's  act.  Dante  does  not  inform  us  on  the  matter ;  he  says 
all  that  he  cares  to  tell  in  a  few  lines :  — 

"  Ah !  when  on  earth  thy  voice  again  is  heard, 

And  thou  from  the  long  road  hast  rested  thee 
(After  the  second  spirit  said  the  third), 

Remember  me  who  am  La  Pia,  me 
From  Siena  sprung  and  by  Maremma  dead. 
This  hi  his  inmost  heart  well  knoweth  he 
With  whose  fair  jewel  I  was  ringed  and  wed."* 

Purgatorio,  v.  130-136. 

"  In  front  of  her  lie  her  breviary  and  letters,  beside  a  bronze  sun-dial,  with  figured 
on  it  the  angel  of  time  wheeling  the  sun ;  and  beyond  these  are  the  battlemented 
walls,  looking  out  upon  the  Maremma  marshes,  close  under  the  ramparts  of  which 
are  laid  the  steel  lances  of  her  husband's  guards,  with  his  red  banner  lying  upon 
them.  Behind  her  are  finely  drawn  and  painted  ivy-leaves  in  clustering  tendrils,  and 
above  her  fig-leaves  painted  with  the  same  exquisite  finish  as  those  in  the  picture  of 
La  Donna  della  Finestra.  On  the  ramparts  a  bell  is  tolling  in  dismal,  funereal  tones, 
sending  its  melancholy  clang  across  the  lifeless  Maremma,  over  which,  and  just  above 
the  mouldy  battlements,  some  black  ravens  hover  and  sweep  with  ominous  caws. 
The  artist  has  fully  succeeded  in  his  aim,  —  that  of  charging  the  composition  with 
the  insidious  deathliness  and  depressing  gloom  of  the  Maremma,  and  of  impressing 
upon  the  spectator  that  sense  of  indignant  pity  for  the  young  and  beautiful  La  Pia 
which  Dante  experienced  when,  with  his  guide,  Virgil,  he  passed  through  the  shad- 
ows of  Purgatory."  —  WILLIAM  SHARP,  D.  G.  Rossetti^  1882,  pp.  263-264. 

25  —  Same.  —  Photograph  of  a  finished  study  in  oils  for  the  head 
of  La  Pia.     Published  by  W.  A.  Mansell  &  Co. 

26  —  Same.  —  Photograph  of  an  earlier  crayon  version  of  La  Pia 
(1866),  in  the   possession  of   Lady  Betty    Balfour.     From  a  private 
negative. 

27  —  D.  G.  Rossetti.  —  Francesca  da  Rimini.    Triptych.    Photo- 
graph by  F.  Hollyer,  from  the  original  water-color  of  1862,  formerly  in  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Leatheart,  and  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1883. 

"  A  replica,  differing  considerably  in  color  and  never  retouched,  belongs  to  Mr. 
George  Rae,t  while  the  first  pencil  study  is,  or  was,  owned  by  Mr.  Ruskin.  It  is  in 

*  Translated  by  D.  G.  Rossetti  aud  painted  on  the  frame  of  the  original  picture, 
t  Exhibited  at  the  Burlington  Club  in  1883.    For  a  reproduction  of  it,  see  F.  G.  Stephens,  D.  G. 
Rossetti,  1894,  p.  59. 


IO  HAND-LIST  OF  FRAMED  DANTE  PICTURES. 

three  compartments,  the  central  of  which  represents  Dante  and  his  guide,  Virgil, 
passing  in  hell  the  lovers  whom  the  former  has  immortalized ;  and  as  the  Florentine 
gazes  with  pitying  eyes  he  draws  up  almost  to  his  mouth  his  robe,  as  though  shrink- 
ing from  so  pitiable  a  sight,  while  over  his  and  Virgil's  head,  in  the  upper  part  of 
the  design,  is  the  simple  exclamation,  '  O  lasso!'  In  the  [right]  compartment  the 
lovers  are  seen  in  a  close  embrace,  but  blown  like  leaves  before  a  gale ;  and  as  they 
drift  past,  in  an  air  filled  with  red  flames  like  fiery  hearts,  they  turn  their  woe-begone 
faces  to  him  who  thus  sorrows  for  their  fate.  ...  In  the  [left]  compartment  is 
represented  the  scene  whose  fateful  termination  was  so  sad ;  for  here  Paolo  and 
Francesca  come  upon  the  passage  wherein  a  love-chord  awaits  their  touching.  The 
line  is  read;  the  volume  (Galeotto  fu  il  libra  e  chi  lo  scrisse  /)  is  allowed  to  fall  from 
their  hands ;  the  look  is  given  which  can  never  be  recalled  or  forgotten ;  the  long, 
passionate  kiss  that  can  never  be  cancelled  lives  on  the  lips  of  both ;  and  close  at 
hand  is  the  unseen,  treacherous  dagger  that  shall  enable  them  to  love  each  other 
forever,  but  in  hell."  —  WILLIAM  SHARP,  D.  G.  Rossetti,  1882,  pp.  181-182. 

28 — Same.  —  Photograph  by  F.  Hollyer  of  another  version  of  the 
episode  of  the  reading  of  the  book,  pictured  in  the  left  compartment  of 
the  preceding.  From  the  original  water-color,  in  possession  of  Mr.  W. 
R.  Moss,  of  Bolton,  Lancaster,  England. 

29 —  Marie  Spartali  Stillman.  —  Dante  at  a  Wedding-feast 
Photograph  from  the  original  oil-painting  of  1890.* 

The  incident  portrayed  is  thus  described  by  Dante  in  the  Vita  Nuova:  "It 
chanced  on  a  day  that  my  most  gracious  lady  was  with  a  gathering  of  ladies  in  a 
certain  place ;  to  the  which  I  was  conducted  by  a  friend  of  mine ;  he  thinking  to  do 
me  a  great  pleasure  by  showing  me  the  beauty  of  so  many  women.  Then  I,  hardly 
knowing  whereunto  he  conducted  me,  but  trusting  in  him  (who  was  yet  leading  his 
friend  to  the  last  verge  of  life),  made  question :  '  To  what  end  are  we  come  among 
these  ladies  ? '  and  he  answered :  '  To  the  end  that  they  may  be  worthily  served.* 
And  they  were  assembled  around  a  gentlewoman  who  was  given  in  marriage  on  that 
day ;  the  custom  of  the  city  being  that  these  should  bear  her  company  when  she  sat 
down  for  the  first  time  at  table  in  the  house  of  her  husband.  Therefore  I,  as  was 
my  friend's  pleasure,  resolved  to  stay  with  him  and  do  honor  to  those  ladies.  But  as 
soon  as  I  had  thus  resolved,  I  began  to  feel  a  faintness  and  a  throbbing  at  my  left 
side,  which  soon  took  possession  of  my  whole  body.  Whereupon  I  remember  that 
I  covertly  leaned  my  back  unto  a  painting  that  ran  around  the  walls  of  that  house  ; 
and  being  fearful  lest  my  trembling  should  be  discerned  of  them,  I  lifted  mine  eyes 
to  look  on  those  ladies,  and  then  first  perceived  among  them  the  excellent  Beatrice. 
And  when  I  perceived  her,  all  my  senses  were  overpowered  by  the  great  lordship 
that  Love  obtained,  finding  himself  so  near  unto  that  most  gracious  being,  until 
nothing  but  the  spirits  of  sight  remained  to  me.  ...  By  this  many  of  her  friends, 
having  discerned  my  confusion,  began  to  wonder ;  and  together  with  herself,  kept 
whispering  of  me  and  mocking  me.  Whereupon  my  friend,  who  knew  not  what  to 
conceive,  took  me  by  \he  hands,  and  drawing  me  forth  from  among  them,  required 

*  The  Library  is  indebted  to  Mrs.  Stillman  for  this  photograph.  For  a  small  photo-engraving  of  it 
see  Westermanifs  Illustrierte  Deutsche  Monatshefte,  Juli,  1892,  Bd.  Ixxii,  p.  495. 


MODERN  ART  INSPIRED  BY  DANTE.  II 

to  know  what  ailed  me.  Then  having  first  held  me  at  quiet  for  a  space  until  my 
perceptions  were  come  back  to  me,  I  made  answer  to  my  friend :  '  Of  a  surety  I  have 
now  set  my  feet  on  that  point  of  life,  beyond  the  which  he  must  not  pass  who  would 
return.' "  * 

30  —  Simeon  Solomon.  —  The  first  meeting  of  Dante  and  Bea- 
trice.    Photograph  by  F.  Hollyer  from  the  original  pen-and-ink  drawing 
in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Ross. 

Of  this  first  meeting  Dante  merely  says  that  it  took  place  when  he  was  a  boy  of 
nine  and  she  a  girl  of  eight,  that  she  was  becomingly  dressed  in  a  crimson  gown, 
and  that  from  the  moment  he  saw  her,  Love  quite  took  possession  of  his  soul.  In 
the  present  picture  Dante  is  represented  as  being  introduced  to  Beatrice  at  a  festive 
gathering  given  by  her  father,  Folco  Portinari,  —  a  story  for  which  Boccaccio  is 
responsible.  Boccaccio,  drawing  upon  his  imagination,  or  relying  upon  current 
report,  describes  Beatrice  as  "  lady-like  and  pleasant  in  her  actions,  with  demeanor 
and  with  words  more  serious  and  quiet  than  the  fewness  of  her  years  demanded. 
Moreover,  the  features  of  her  countenance  were  very  delicate  and  finely  cut,  and, 
besides  her  beauty,  full  of  such  a  kindly  dignity  that  she  was  held  by  many  little 
short  of  an  angel."  Compare  M.  Boyer-Breton's  picture  (No.  49). 

"  [Solomon's  drawing]  is  a  most  charming  little  work,  exquisitely  finished,  with 
all  the  qualities  demanded  by  the  modern  artist  in  pen-draughtsmanship ;  it  recalls 
the  delicate  work  of  the  illuminator ;  and,  in  the  naivett  of  the  conception,  reminds 
us  of  Sir  John  Millais's  early  manner  before  he  seceded  from  the  pre-Raphaelites. 
.  .  .  From  the  execution  it  might  well  be  the  study  for  an  old  master's  engraving." 
—  Saturday  Review,  April  15,  1893,  p.  405. 

31  —  Ary  Schef  fer.  —  Francesca  da  Rimini.   Engraved  by  L.  Cala- 
matta.     The  original  picture  of  1835  was  painted  for  the  Due  d' Orleans, 
and  has  been  owned  successively  by  Prince  Demidoff,  Lord  Hertford,  and 
Sir  Richard  Wallace.!    The  widow  of  the  latter  bequeathed  it  to  the 
British  nation. 

"  You  restless  ghosts  that  roam  the  lurid  air, 
I  feel  your  misery,  —  for  I  was  there  ; 
Yea,  not  in  dreams,  but  breathing  and  alive 
Have  seen  the  storm,  and  heard  the  tempest  drive ; 
Yet  while  the  sleet  went,  withering  as  it  past 
And  the  mad  hail  gave  scourges  to  the  blast, 


itn  me  quotation  irom  uante  graven  on  scron  worK  —  oemg  in  tne  Acaaemy  01  *  me  Arts  at  at.  .reters- 
jrg."  Another  version  of  the  painting  has  recently  been  bequeathed  to  the  Louvre  by  the  artist's 
lughter.  Photo-engravings  in  the  Cosmopolitan,  Jan.  1893,  p.  267,  and  Kraus,  "Dante,  sein  Leben  und 
:in  Werk,"  1897,  p.  635. 


12  HAND-LIST  OF  FRAMED  DANTE  PICTURES. 

While  all  was  black  below  and  flame  above, 
Have  thought,  —  't  is  little  to  the  storm  of  Love ; 
You  know  that  sadly,  know  it  to  your  cost, 
Ah  !  too  much  loving,  and  forever  lost ! 

"  Not  every  friend  hath  friendship's  finer  touch, 
To  pardon  passion,  when  it  mounts  too  much ; 
Not  every  soul  hath  proved  its  own  excess, 
And  feared  the  throb  it  still  would  not  repress. 
But  he  whose  numbers  gave  you  unto  fame, 
Lord  of  the  lay,  —  I  need  not  speak  his  name,  — 
Was  one  who  felt ;  whose  life  was  love  or  hate ; 
Born  for  extremes,  he  scorned  the  middle  state ; 
And  well  he  knew  that,  since  the  world  began, 
The  heart  was  master  in  the  world  of  man." 
T.  W.  PARSONS,  Francesco,  da  Rimini,  a  picture  by  Scheffer- 

32 — D.  G.  Rossetti. —  Beatrice  at  a  Marriage-feast  denies  Dante 
her  salutation.  Photogravure  from  the  original  water-color  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  Henry  T.  Wells,  R.  A.* 

For  Dante's  own  description  of  the  incident  here  portrayed  see  the  note  under 
Mrs.  Stillman's  picture,  No.  29. 

33  —  D.  G.  Rossetti.  —  Dante's  Dream.  Photograph  by  F. 
Holly er  from  the  original  oil-painting  in  the  Walker  Gallery,  Liverpool.f 

This,  the  largest  of  Rossetti's  paintings,  in  which  the  figures  are  life-size,  was 
finished  late  in  1871  and  was  to  have  been  exhibited  by  itself  in  London  in  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  but  it  was  purchased  by  Mr.  William  Graham  while  still  on  the  artist's 
easel.  Finding  it  too  large  for  his  rooms,  Mr.  Graham,  after  having  had  it  for  some 
time,  returned  it  to  Rossetti,  in  exchange  for  a  smaller  replica.  A  second  purchaser 
was  then  found  in  Mr.  L.  R.  Valpy,  but  later  he  too,  owing  to  his  removal  from  Lon- 
don, had  to  accept  Rossetti's  offer  to  take  back  the  huge  affair.  Eventually,  in  1881, 
Rossetti  sold  it  to  the  Corporation  of  Liverpool.  In  1883  it  figured  in  the  loan 
exhibition  at  the  Royal  Academy. 

The  picture  has  been  thus  described  by  the  painter :  "  It  embodies  Dante's 
dream  on  the  day  of  the  death  of  Beatrice,}  in  which  with  many  portents  and  omens, 
he  is  led  by  Love  himself  to  the  bedside  of  the  dead  lady,  and  sees  other  ladies  cov- 
ering her  with  a  red  veil  as  she  lies  in  death.  The  scene  is  a  chamber  of  dreams, 
where  Beatrice  is  lying  on  a  couch,  recessed  in  the  wall,  as  if  just  fallen  back  in 

*  The  plate  was  made  for  the  volume  entitled  "  Ruskin,  Rossetti,  Preraphaelitism,"  1899,  in 
which  h  appears  opp.  p.  114.  For  this  large  paper  copy  the  Library  is  indebted  to  the  joint  courtesy  of 
Mr.  Wells  and  the  publisher  of  the  above  work,  Mr.  George  Allen,  who  very  kindly  had  this  special 
impression  made  for  this  collection.  A  photo-engraving  illustrates  H.  C.  Marillier's  article,  "  The 
Salutations  of  Beatrice,  as  treated  pictorially  by  D.  G.  Rossetti,"  in  the  Art  Journal,  Dec.  1899,  p.  355. 

t  Wood-engraving  in  the  Magazine  of  Art,  1889,  vol.  xii.  p.  51. 

$  A  mis-statement  which,  as  his  brother  remarked  in  the  Art  Journal  for  1884,  "  must  have  been  a 
voluntary  one."  Mr.  F.  G.  Stephens,  on  the  other  hand,  says  that  the  statement  was  due  to  a  mere 
clerical  error.  It,  however,  occurs  in  several  catalogues.  According  to  Dante,  Beatrice  did  not  die 
until  some  time  after  the  dream. 


MODERN  ART  INSPIRED  BY  DANTE.  13 

death.  The  winged  and  glowing  figure  of  Love  (the  pilgrim  Love  of  the  Vita  Nuova, 
wearing  the  scallop-shell  *  on  his  shoulder)  leads  by  the  hand  Dante,  who  walks, 
unconscious  but  absorbed,  as  if  in  sleep.  Love  carries  his  arrow  pointed  at  the 
dreamer's  heart,  and  with  the  figurative  apple-blossom  too  early  plucked.  Love 
bends  over  Beatrice  and  kisses  her,  as  her  lover  had  never  done.  Two  dream  ladies 
hold  the  pall  full  of  May-bloom  suspended  for  an  instant  before  it  covers  her  face 
forever."  (Athetuzum,  Aug.  20,  1881,  p.  250.) 

"  It  is  a  large  room,  not  exactly  mediaeval  and  still  less  of  modern  aspect ;  to 
the  left  and  right  of  it  being  winding  stairs,  that  on  the  [left]  of  the  picture  winding 
downwards,  and  that  on  the  [right]  upwards,  both  opening  upon  the  sunlit  but  deso- 
late Florentine  streets.  Over  the  couch  whereon  she  is  laid,  of  whom  the  people 
were  wont  to  say  '  This  is  not  a  woman,  but  one  of  the  beautiful  angels  of  heaven,' 
is  a  lamp  from  which  issues  an  expiring  flame  ;  and  nailed  to  the  rafters  at  one  end 
is  a  scroll  bearing  the  inscription,  Qitomodo  sedet  sola  civitas  [Jeremiah  i.  5].  .  .  . 
Along  the  frieze  are  roses  and  violets,  flowers  typical  of  the  beauty  and  purity  of 
Beatrice,  and  on  the  floor  are  strewn  scarlet  poppies,  symbolical  of  sleep  and  death." 
—  WILLIAM  SHARP,  D.  G.  Rossetti,  pp.  222-223. 

The  following  lines  from  the  canzone  in  the  Vita  Nuova,  beginning  Donna 
pietosa  e  di  novella  etate,  contain  Dante's  own  poetical  account  of  the  vision :  — 

"  Then  lifting  up  mine  eyes,  as  the  tears  came, 
I  saw  the  Angels,  like  a  rain  of  manna, 
In  a  long  flight  flying  back  Heavenward; 
Having  a  little  cloud  in  front  of  them, 
After  the  which  they  went  and  said,  '  Hosanna ' ; 
And  if  they  had  said  more,  you  should  have  heard. 
Then  Love  said,  '  Now  shall  all  things  be  made  clear : 
Come  and  behold  our  lady  where  she  lies.' 
These  'wildering  fantasies 
Then  carried  me  to  see  my  lady  dead. 
Even  as  I  there  was  led, 
Her  ladies  with  a  veil  were  covering  her ; 
And  with  her  was  such  very  humbleness 
That  she  appeared  to  say,  '  I  am  at  peace.' " 

" '  Dante's  Dream '  is  probably  the  work  which  shows  the  painter  at  his  zenith. 
The  expression  of  the  heads  is  profound  and  lofty,  the  composition  severely  medi- 
aeval and  admirably  complete,  and  although  the  painting  is  labored,  the  total  impres- 
sion is  nevertheless  so  cogent  that  it  is  impossible  to  forget  it."  —  R.  MUTHER,  His- 
tory of  modern  painting,  1896,  vol.  iii,  p.  593- 

"The  memory  of  such  a  picture  is  like  the  memory  of  sublime  and  perfect 
music;  it  makes  any  one  who/M/7j>  feels  it  —  silent."  —  SIR  NOEL  PATON. 

"The  opinions  passed  on  this  remarkable  picture  have  necessarily  been  as 
various  as  the  moods  of  mind.  Indiscriminate  laudation  we  pass  by.  True  criti- 
cism discovers  that  Rossetti  here,  as  elsewhere,  found  his  strength  and  his  weakness 
in  being  at  once  the  poet  and  the  painter,  with  so  much  of  the  amateur  in  each  as 
not  quite  to  reach  the  professional  expert  in  either.  The  poet's  conception  is  noble, 

*  "  Symbolising  the  Emotion,  the  Love,  that,  visiting  every  land  and  every  household,  like  the 
scallop-wearing  pilgrim  of  old,  wanders  over  the  earth."  — W.  SHARP. 


14  HAND-LIST  OF  FRAMED  DANTE  PICTURES. 

but  the  painter's  knowledge  inadequate.*  This  falling  short  of  completeness  in  the 
carrying  out  may  arise  partly  from  the  unwonted  scale,  also  from  insufficiency  in 
preliminary  studies ;  likewise  from  a  possible  hesitation  whether  the  theme  should 
be  treated  as  a  reality  or  only  as  a  '  dream.'  "  —  [ J.  B.  ATKINSON]  in  Blackwood** 
Magazine,  March,  1883,  p.  400. 

34  —  Same;  detail.  —  Head  of  Dante.    Photograph  by  the  Soule  Co., 
of  Boston,  of  a  study  in  black  and  red  chalk.     Ascribed  to  1870. 

W.  J.  Stillman,  the  art-critic  and  author,  was  the  model. 

35  —  Same;  detail.  —  Full  length  figure  of  Dante.     Photograph  by 
F.  Hollyer  of  a  chalk  study  for  a  replica  of  "  Dante's  Dream,"  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  Francis  Buxton.     Dated  1874. 

36  —  Same ;  detail.  —  Photograph   of    a  crayon   study   of  Beatrice 
with  Love  bending  over  her.     Published  by  W.  A.  Mansell  &  Co. 

"  With  regard  to  the  youthful  figure  of  Love  it  may  be  of  interest  to  know  that 
the  model  Mr.  Rossetti  especially  desired,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining,  was  Mr.  J. 
Forbes  Robertson."  —  W.  Sharp,  p.  225. 

37  —  Same  ;  detail.  —  The  dead  Beatrice.     Photograph  of  a  crayon 
study  dated  1871.     Published  by  W.  A.  Mansell  &  Co. 

The  sitter  was  Mrs.  William  Morris.  Reproduced  in  the  Portfolio,  1883,  vol. 
xiv,  opp.  p.  91,  and  in  the  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  1887,  2e  periode,  torn,  xxxvi,  p.  185. 

38  —  Same  ;  detail.  —  Photograph  of  a  crayon  study  for  the  head  of 
one  of  the  attendant  ladies.     Ascribed  to  1868.     Published  by  W.  A. 
Mansell  &  Co. 

The  sitter  was  Miss  Spartali,  now  Mrs.  W.  J.  Stillman.  The  attendant  lady  is 
the  one  standing  at  the  head  of  the  couch.  Another  crayon  study  for  this  same 
head,  altogether  differently  posed,  is  reproduced  in  Stephens's  monograph  on 
Rossetti,  p.  63.  This  latter  drawing,  purchased  by  Mr.  Rae,  is,  says  Mr.  Stephens, 
"  a  more  or  less  exact  likeness  of  Miss  Spartali  "  (p.  78). 

39  —  D.  G.  Rossetti.  —  La  Donna  della  Finestra  (The  Lady  of  the 
Window) .    Sometimes  called  The  Lady  of  Pity.    Photograph  by  F.  Hollyer 
from  the  original  oil-painting  (1879)  formerly  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  F. 
S.  Ellis,  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1883,  and  now  owned  by 
Mr.  W.  R.  Moss.f 

Some  time  after  the  anniversary  of  Beatrice's  death  (see  No.  2$),  Dante  was 
seated  in  a  place  which  brought  back  the  past  to  his  mind.  "Then,"  says  he, 

*  The  statement  has  been  made  elsewhere,  "which  is  greatly  if  not  wholly  true,"  says  Mr.  Sharp, 
"  that  Rossetti  was  born  a  poet  and  made  himself  an  artist."  "  If  this  means,"  says  the  artist's  brother 
in  a  letter  of  March  4th,  1899,  "  that  Rossetti  was  better  as  a  verbal  poet  than  as  a  pictorial  artist,  that 
is  a  matter  of  opinion  ;  but  if  it  means  that  he  took  to  the  writing  of  poetry  more  spontaneously  than  to 
drawing  and  painting,  it  is  a  mistake.  Of  his  own  accord  he  began  drawing  in  early  childhood,  and 
looked  upon  painting  as  his  future  vocation  and  profession." 

t  Photo-engraving  in  the  Art  Journal,  Nov.  1899,  p.  345. 


MODERN  ART  INSPIRED  BY  DANTE.  15 

"  having  sat  for  some  space  sorely  in  thought  because  of  the  time  that  was  now  past, 
I  was  so  filled  with  dolorous  imaginings  that  it  became  outwardly  manifest  in  mine 
altered  countenance.  Whereupon,  feeling  this  and  being  in  dread  lest  any  one  should 
have  seen  me,  I  lifted  mine  eyes  to  look ;  and  then  perceived  a  young  and  very 
beautiful  lady,  who  was  gazing  upon  me  from  a  window  with  a  gaze  full  of  pity,  so 
that  the  very  sum  of  pity  appeared  gathered  together  in  her.  And  seeing  that 
unhappy  persons,  when  they  beget  compassion  in  others,  are  then  most  moved  unto 
weeping,  as  though  they  also  felt  pity  for  themselves,  it  came  to  pass  that  mine  eyes 
began  to  be  inclined  unto  tears.  Wherefore,  becoming  fearful  lest  I  should  make 
manifest  mine  abject  condition,  I  rose  up,  and  went  where  I  could  not  be  seen  of 
that  lady ;  saying  afterwards  within  myself :  '  Certainly  with  her  also  must  abide 
most  noble  Love.' "  ( Vita  Nucwa,  §  36.) 

On  the  frame  of  the  original  picture  Rossetti  painted  Dante's  sonnet  beginning 
Videro  gli  occhi  miei  quanta  fietate,  with  the  following  English  translation :  — 

Mine  eyes  beheld  the  blessed  pity  spring 

Into  thy  countenance  immediately 

A  while  agone,  when  thou  beheldst  in  me 
The  sickness  only  hidden  grief  can  bring ; 
And  then  I  knew  thou  wast  considering 

How  abject  and  forlorn  my  life  must  be ; 

And  I  became  afraid  that  thou  shouldst  see 
My  weeping,  and  account  it  a  base  thing. 
Therefore  I  went  out  from  thee ;  feeling  how 

The  tears  were  straightway  loosened  at  my  heart 
Beneath  thine  eyes'  compassionate  control. 
And  afterwards  I  said  within  my  soul : 

"  Lo !  with  this  lady  dwells  the  counterpart 
Of  the  same  Love  who  holds  me  weeping  now." 

40  —  Same.  —  Photograph  by  F.  Hollyer  of  an  unfinished  replica 
(1881)  in  the  Birmingham  Gallery.* 

An  earlier  version  (1870)  is  sometimes  referred  to  under  the  words,  "  Color 
d'  amore  e  di  pieta  scmbiante"  the  first  line  of  the  sonnet  in  the  Vita,  Nuova  following 
the  one  quoted  above :  — 

Love's  pallor  and  the  semblance  of  deep  ruth 

Were  never  yet  shown  forth  so  perfectly 

In  any  lady's  face,  chancing  to  see 
Grief's  miserable  countenance  uncouth, 
As  in  thine,  lady,  they  have  sprung  to  soothe, 

When  in  mine  anguish  thou  hast  looked  on  me ; 

Until  sometimes  it  seems  as  if,  through  thee, 
My  heart  might  almost  wander  from  its  truth. 

*  Photogravure  in  Esther  Wood's  "  Dante  Rossetti  and  the  Preraphaelite  movement,"  1894,  opp« 
p.  256,  and  photo-engraving  in  Stephens's  monograph,  p.  76. 


1 6  HAND-LIST  OF  FRAMED  DANTE  PICTURES. 

Yet  so  it  is,  I  cannot  hold  mine  eyes 
From  gazing  very  often  upon  thine 

In  the  sore  hope  to  shed  those  tears  they  keep : 
And  at  such  time,  thou  mak'st  the  pent  tears  rise 
Even  to  the  brim,  till  the  eyes  waste  and  pine ; 
Yet  cannot  they,  while  thou  art  present,  weep.* 

41  —  Henry  Holiday. — Dante  and  Beatrice.  Photograph  from 
the  original  oil-painting  exhibited  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  in  i883,;iand 
purchased  in  1884  for  the  Walker  Gallery,  Liverpool.! 

Dante  stands  at  the  approach  to  a  bridge  across  the  Arno,  leaning  with  his  right 
hand  upon  the  stone  parapet  and  pressing  his  left  hand  to  his  heart  as  Beatrice, 
with  two  other  ladies,  passes  by.  In  the  background  are  painted,  with  almost  photo- 
graphic clearness,  the  Ponte  Vecchio  and  the  houses  along  the  river  bank.  The 
pigeons  in  the  foreground  were  painted  by  J.  T.  Nettleship. 

42 —  D.  G.  Rossetti. — The  Boat  of  Love.  Photograph  by  F. 
Hollyer  from  the  original  monochrome  in  the  Birmingham  Gallery,  begun 
in  1864  but  never  fully  worked  out.J 

"  One  of  the  most  considerable  and  trying  groups  which  he  ever  brought  to  the 
oil-color  stage." — W.  M.  Rossetti,  D.  G.  Rossetti,  p.  48. 

The  theme  is  found  in  the  following  sonnet  from  Dante's  Canzoniere : 

Guido  vorrei  eke  tu  e  Lapo  ed  to. 
Guido,  I  would  that  Lapo,  thou,  and  I 

Were  by  some  kind  enchantment  borne  away 
In  a  brave  ship  that  o'er  the  sea  should  fly 

And,  spite  of  wind  and  tide,  our  will  obey : 
So  that  ne'er  fickle  fortune  nor  foul  weather 

Should  interrupt  our  course  or  mar  our  peace, 
And  living  free  and  happily  together, 

The  wish  to  live  so  ever,  might  increase. 
Vanna  and  Beatrice  should  be  there 

With  her  who  o'er  the  thirty  reigns  supreme 
(That,  too,  should  be  the  good  enchanter's  care) ; 

And  love  should  be  our  everlasting  theme, — 
As  much  contented  they  our  lot  to  share 

As  we  our  fate  to  blend  with  theirs,  I  deem. 

(Translated  by  Richard  Henry  Wilde.) 

*  "  Boccaccio  tells  us  that  Dante  was  married  to  Gemma  Donati  about  a  year  after  the  death  of 
Beatrice.  Can  Gemma  then  be  '  the  lady  of  the  window,'  his  love  for  whom  Dante  so  contemns  ?  Such 
a  passing  conjecture  (when  considered  together  with  the  interpretation  of  this  passage  in  Dante's  later 
•work,  the  Convito)  would  of  course  imply  an  admission  of  what  I  believe  to  lie  at  the  heart  of  all  true 
Dantesque  commentary ;  that  is,  the  existence  always  of  the  actual  events  even  where  the  allegorical 
superstructure  has  been  raised  by  Dante  himself."  —  D.  G.  ROSSETTI. 

t  Etching  by  C.  O.  Murray  in  the  Art  Journal,  1884,  opp.  p.  4. 

%  Photogravure  in  Esther  Wood's  "Dante  Rossetti  and  the  Preraphaelite  movement,"  1894, 
opp.  p.  150. 


MODERN  ART  INSPIRED  BY  DANTE.  l"J 

43  —  D-  G.  Rossetti.  —  Salutatio  Beatricis ;  or,  Dante  and  Beatrice. 
In  two  compartments.  Photograph  by  F.  Hollyer  from  the  oil-painting 
formerly  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Leatheart,  exhibited  at  the  Royal 
Academy  in  1883,  and  now  owned  by  Mr.  F.  J.  Tennant,  of  North 
Berwick.* 

"  This  composition  is  in  oil,  and  was  commenced  and  perhaps  finished  about 
1859.  ...  It  is  in  two  compartments,  the  [right]  of  which  has  been  twice,  and 
perhaps  oftener,  reproduced  as  a  small  water-color,  while  the  [left]  is  familiar  in  sub- 
ject though  not  in  detail  to  those  acquainted  with  one  of  the  later  and  finest  Dante 
pictures.t  The  latter  represents  a  street  or  piazza  in  Florence  with  Beatrice  de- 
scending as  Dante  himself  ascends  the  stone  steps,  and  she  is  giving  him  that  salu- 
tation which,  he  himself  has  told  us,  made  him  as  though  about  to  faint ;  while  in  the 
right  compartment  the  scene  is  in  [the  Earthly]  Paradise  with  Beatrice,  accompanied 
by  two  others,  meeting  her  laurelled  lover  and  gazing  at  him  with  an  intense  spiritual 
longing,  while  his  face  seems  too  solemn  for  joy,  too  full  of  patient  reverence  for 
aught  save  silent  expectation."  —  WILLIAM  SHARP,  D.  G.  Rossetti,  pp.  182-183. 

1.  In  Terra.    This  meeting,  the  second  referred  to  by  Dante,  is  described  in  the 
Vita  Nuoua.     It  took  place  just  nine  years  after  their  first  meeting,  "  when  it  hap- 
pened," says  Dante,  "  that  the  same  wonderful  lady  appeared  to  me  dressed  all  in 
pure  white,   between   two  gentle  ladies   elder  than  she.    And  passing  through  a 
street  she  turned  her  eyes  thither  where  I  stood  sorely  abashed :   and  by  her  un- 
speakable courtesy  which  is  now  guerdoned  in  the  Great  Cycle,  she  saluted  me  with 
so  virtuous  a  bearing  that  I  seemed  then  and  there  to  behold  the  very  limits  of 
blessedness.    The  hour  of  her  most  sweet  salutation  was  exactly  the  ninth  of  that 
day ;  and  because  it  was  the  first  time  that  any  words  from  her  reached  mine 
ears,  I  came  into  such  sweetness  that  I  parted  thence  as  one  intoxicated.     And 
betaking  me  to  the  loneliness  of  mine  own  room,  I  fell  to  thinking  of  this  most 
courteous  lady." 

2.  In  Eden.    This  meeting  is  described  by  Dante  in  the  30th  canto  of  the 
Purgatorio :  — 

"  Underneath  a  falling  cloud  of  flowers, 
Which  from  those  angels'  hands  each  moment  rained 
Into  the  chariot  and  around  in  showers, 
Wreathed,  over  a  white  veil,  with  olive  crown, 
Appeared  a  woman  in  a  mantle  green, 
And  living  flame  the  color  of  her  gown. 
My  heart  then,  which  so  many  a  year  had  been 
Free  from  that  former  trembling  when  I  saw 
Her  presence  once,  that  violent  surprise 
Which  overwhelmed  me  so  with  love  and  awe, 
Now,  without  further  knowledge  of  mine  eyes, 
Through  some  hid  virtue  that  from  her  went  out, 
Felt  all  the  might  of  that  first  passion  rise ! 

*  Reproduced  in  two  photogravures  in  the  Quarto,  1896-97,  and  in  W.  M.  Rossetti's  "  Ruskin, 
Rossetti,  Preraphaelitism,"  1899,  opp.  pp.  gS,  264.  Photo-engravings  in  the  A rt  Journal,  Dec.  1899, 
p.  354-  t  The  unfinished  "  Salutation  of  Beatrice,"  1880. 

2 


1 8  HAND-LIST  OF  FRAMED  DANTE  PICTURES. 

Although  the  veil  which  from  her  forehead  fell, 
Girt  by  that  frondage  of  Minerva's  tree, 
Suffered  me  not  to  see  her  features  well, 
Queenly  she  looked,  and  yet  upbraided  me, 
Continuing  thus,  with  sweet  restraint  of  style 
As 't  were  she  kept  her  warmer  words  behind : 
'  Behold  me  well.    The  one  I  was  erewhile 
Good  sooth  I  am :  I  am  thy  Beatrice  1 ' " 

(Translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons.) 

44  —  D.  G.  Rossetti. — Study  of   the  head  of  Beatrice  for  the 
unfinished  "  Salutation  of  Beatrice,"  1880.    The  sitter  was  Mrs.  William 
Morris.    Photograph  by  F.  Hollyer  from  the  drawing  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Graham  Robertson,  Kensington,  London.* 

"  It  is  from  a  crayon  drawing  which  my  brother  ultimately  used  as  the  founda- 
tion of  an  oil  picture ;  the  latter  was  very  nearly  but  not  quite  completed  at  the  date 
of  his  death.  It  is  true  that  there  is  quite  a  different  subject  in  two  compartments 
which  can  be  called  'The  Salutation  of  Beatrice'  (No.  43),  or,  more  accurately, 
'  Dante  meeting  Beatrice  in  Florence  and  in  the  Garden  of  Eden.'  [The  present 
picture,  however,]  is  intended  to  apply  more  particularly  to  that  celebrated  sonnet  by 
Dante  which  begins  Tanto  gentile  e  tanto  onesta  pare."  —  From  a  letter  by  W.  M. 
Rossetti,  Dec.  2,  1898. 

The  sonnet  referred  to  has  been  thus  translated  by  T.  W.  Parsons :  — 

So  gentle  seems  my  lady  and  so  pure 

When  she  greets  any  one,  that  scarce  the  eye 
Such  modesty  and  brightness  can  endure, 

And  the  tongue,  trembling,  falters  in  reply. 
She  never  heeds,  when  people  praise  her  worth, — 

Some  in  their  speech,  and  many  with  a  pen,  — 
But  meekly  moves,  as  if  sent  down  to  earth 

To  show  another  miracle  to  men  I 
And  such  a  pleasure  from  her  presence  grows 

On  him  who  gazeth,  while  she  passeth  by,  — 
A  sense  of  sweetness  that  no  mortal  knows 

Who  hath  not  felt  it,  —  that  the  soul's  repose 
Is  woke  to  worship,  and  a  spirit  flows 

Forth  from  her  face  that  seems  to  whisper,  "  Sigh  1 " 

45  —  D.  G.    Rossetti.  —  Dantis  Amor.       Photograph    from  the 
pen-and-ink  drawing  of  1859  or   1860,  formerly  in  the  possession  of 
W.  M.  Rossetti.     Published  by  W.  A.  Mansell  &  Co.f 

Illustrates  in  a  mystical  manner  the  closing  sentence  of  the  Vita  Nuova.  "  This 
design  was  carried  out  as  a  panel  painting"  (John  P.  Anderson). 

*  Another  and  very  similar  crayon  study  for  this  same  head  is  reproduced  in  the  Portfolio,  1883, 
voL  xiv,  opp.  p.  90. 

t  Photo-engraving  in  the  A  rt  Journal,  Dec.  1899,  p.  353. 


MODERN  ART  INSPIRED  BY  DANTE.  19 

46  —  George  Frederick  Watts.  —  Paolo  and  Francesca.    Photo- 
graph by  F.  Hollyer  from  the  oil-painting  of  1879  in  the  possession  of  the 
artist.     The  original  was  exhibited  in  New  York  in  1884.* 

"  As  an  example  of  design  of  the  loftiest  and  most  imaginative  vein,  the  '  Paolo 
and  Francesca'  certainly  is  at  the  artist's  high-water  mark.  The  movement  of  the 
group,  the  floating,  effortless  drift  of  the  figures  as  they  go  by  in  the  interminable 
procession  of  the  shades,  is  marvellous,  subtle  to  the  finest  degree ;  and  the  compo- 
sition of  the  lines  throughout  is  so  in  sympathy  with  those  of  the  draperies  and  the 
figures  that  the  whole  seems  a  fragment  of  a  ghostly  vortex  which  the  spectator 
catches  a  glimpse  of  as  Paolo  and  Francesca  are  passing.  Pallid,  unconscious  of 
aught  but  themselves,  so  lost  in  the  woe  of  their  perdition  that  even  we  forget  Dante 
and  his  intervention,  —  it  is  as  if  we  saw,  and  not  the  poet.  This  is  the  true  imagina- 
tive treatment,  unlike  that  of  Scheffer  [No.  31],  who  has  put,  in  his  best  solid  and 
academic  drawing,  a  realistic  Dante  to  crown  the  realism  with.  In  Watts's  picture 
there  is  an  awful  unreality  pervading  the  whole.  If  ghosts  are  to  be  seen  as  ghosts 
they  could  not  be  better  seen  than  these,  —  beauty,  youth,  happiness,  all  gone,  and 
only  the  semblance  of  living  remaining.  It  is  the  ideal  of  spiritual  torture  he  has 
given  (so  far  as  form  can  convey  that  ideal),  when  in  that  misery  which  can  by  no 
other  be  surpassed,  of  remembering  the  joy  of  past  years  in  the  midst  of  hopeless 
woe."  —  [W.  J.  STILLMAX]  in  the  Nation,  Nov.  27,  1884,  vol.  xxxix,  p.  468. 

47  —  Same.  —  Photographic  copy  by  the  Soule  Co.,  of  Boston,  of  an 
earlier  version,  f 

In  answer  to  a  letter  concerning  the  different  versions  of  this  picture,  Mr.  Watts 
replied  under  date  of  Jan.  27,  1899,  as  follows :  —  "  The  one  large  and  complete  ver- 
sion of  the  subject  is  now  in  my  gallery  in  London,  as  I  do  not  wish  to  sell  it.  The 
photograph  by  Hollyer  is  from  this,  and  probably  the  photograph  by  the  Soule  Co. 
is  from  some  earlier  stage  of  the  same  picture  before  it  was  quite  complete.  I  do 
not  know  how  [the  latter  photograph  came  to  be  taken],  —  not  with  my  knowledge 
or  permission  as  far  as  I  can  remember.  There  is  one  small  replica  of  this  picture 
belonging  now,  I  believe,  to  Lord  Davey,  and  another  picture  (small  also)  of  the 
same  subject,  where  the  figures  are  both  nude,  which  used  to  belong  to  Mr.  Reginald 
Cholmondeley,  and  was  sold  at  Christie's  auction  rooms  some  little  time  ago,  —  I  do 
not  know  to  whom.  This  was  exhibited  in  1849.  The  picture  in  my  possession  was 
exhibited  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  in  1879,  and  so  was  probably  painted  —  or  com- 
pleted rather  —  about  that  date,  but  as  I  leave  my  work  to  dry  very  thoroughly  for 
longer  or  shorter  periods,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  say  when  a  picture  was  painted. 
Even  after  exhibiting  them,  I  often  find  there  is  much  I  want  to  do  to  them." 

48  —  Albert  Maignan.  —  [Dante  meeting  Matilda.]     Photograph 
from  the  oil-painting  of  1881  in  the  Luxembourg. 

In  the  Earthly  Paradise,  at  the  summit  of  the  mount  of  Purgatory,  Dante  wan- 
ders, in  company  with  Virgil  and  Statius,  through  a  forest  enlivened  with  singing 
birds  and  fragrant  blossoms.  Before  long  they  are  stopped  by  a  small  and  very  clear 
stream,  on  the  other  side  of  which  is  seen  a  fair  lady,  singing  and  gathering  flowers. 

*  Photo-engraving  in  the  Magazine  of  Art,  Jan.,  1897,  vol.  xx,  p.  202. 
t  Photo-engraving  in  the  Cosmopolitan,  Jan.,  1895. 


2O  HAND-LIST  OF  FRAMED  DANTE  PICTURES. 

Dante  begs  the  lady  (whose  name  is  afterwards  given  as  Matilda)  to  come  nearer 
the  bank  of  the  stream  that  he  may  hear  what  she  is  singing.  She  complies  with  his 
request,  and  then  tells  Dante  and  his  companions  that  her  delight  is  in  the  contem- 
plation of  the  works  of  the  Creator.  After  explaining  to  Dante  the  nature  of  things 
in  the  Earthly  Paradise,  Matilda  guides  Dante  and  his  companions  along  the  banks 
of  the  stream  to  the  place  where  they  behold  the  mystical  procession,  in  the  midst 
of  which  Beatrice  appears. 

In  the  Divina  Commedia  Matilda  symbolizes  the  active  life,  as  Beatrice  repre- 
sents the  contemplative  life,  being  secular  counterparts  of  Leah  and  Rachel  respec- 
tively. Numerous  theories  have  been  advanced  concerning  the  identification  of 
Matilda  with  various  real  and  historic  personages. 

49  —  M.    Boyer-Breton. — [The  first  meeting   of   Dante    and 
Beatrice.]     Photograph  by  Braun,  Cle'ment  et  Cie.  from  the  original  oil- 
painting. 

Dante  meets  Beatrice  as  she  comes  out  of  church,  —  a  conception  for  which 
the  artist  is  responsible.  For  another  treatment  of  the  incident,  see  Solomon's 
drawing  (No.  30). 

50  —  Marcel  Rieder.  —  [Dante  mourning  for  Beatrice.]     Photo- 
graph by  Braun,  Clement  et  Cie.  from  the  original  oil-painting  exhibited 
at  the  Champs  £lysees  Salon,  1894.* 


51-56  —  Fra  Angelico.  —  Figures  of  six  angels,  from  the  taber- 
nacle painted  by  him,  in  1433,  for  the  flax-merchants'  guild ;  now  in  the 
Urfizi  Gallery  at  Florence.  Photogravures  by  the  Taber,  Prang  Co., 
Springfield,  Mass. 

The  complete  series  comprises  twelve  angels,  of  which  there  are  here  represented 
those  with  the  bugle,  drum,  violin,  cithern,  tambourine,  and  trumpet.  These  angels 
have  about  them  more  of  the  atmosphere  of  Paradise  as  Dante  conceived  it  than 
most  modern  work  designed  primarily  to  illustrate  that  portion  of  the  Commedia. 
Although  executed  a  century  later  than  the  poem,  the  two  have  the  same  spirit,  for 
Fra  Angelico  was  a  mediaevalist  in  the  midst  of  the  Renaissance. 

*  Photo-engraving  in  Munsey's  Magazine,  Sept.  1895,  opp.  p.  599,  and  wood-engraving  by  Mme. 
Jacob-Bazin  in  the  Magazine  of  Art,  Sept.  1894,  vol.  xvii,  opp.  p.  384. 


18461''$ 


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